Post apocolyptic reads

[BlingLoving]

I love a good post apocolyptic/sci fi read but find it's quite hard to find them so I'm looking for inspiration please from all of you. To give you an idea of what I like I recently read and enjoyed the Hunger Games trilogy. Going further back, I love almost everything John Wyndham ever wrote, but The Day of the Triffids and The Chrysalids are my favourite.

My Kindle is charged and I am ready to download...!

I seem to be stalling a lot lately. I've got part way through (then put to one side to go back to) 'Metro 2033' by Glukhovsky and 'The Infection' by Craig DiLouie.

Don't know why,they're just not gripping me.

I have made a start on 'Down to a sunless sea' and so far,so good!

I liked the beginning and premise of X Isle but didn't like the second half at all. Likewise Metro 2033 which left me a bit cold.

I have also got the third John Marsden 'Tomorrow' series book; 'Flood Child' by Emily Diamand (with Flood and Fire on reserve if I like it) and Legend by Marie Lu which I am 90% sure I won't be particularly bothered by (its based on Les Miserables apparently). I'm beginning to scrape the barrel a bit now.

Thanks crescent, just added it to my library reserve list. I'm number 5 on the list so hopefully won't be too long before I get a copy.

I keep coming across that Blood Red Road one, but so far it's been full price on the Kindle so I haven't got it. One of these days they'll reduce it and I'll buy it cheap. I only pay full price for a very few authors now, and ones I know I will read again, or have read everything they write and am waiting for a next installment, and even then, I tend to wait for the paperback so the Kindle issue is cheaper too

Skinny if yours turns out to be the "sad ending" of Sunless Sea, please will you let me know?
I can't track it down at all, his books are hard to find because all his pen names are a forename for the surname and it makes them really hard to search - it's taken me years to find the three I have and of course buying online, it's only if a seller is willing to go and actually read the last bit that they can check which it is... I'll track it down one day!

Pom,I was up till 1am reading it last night.Absolutely brilliant!

I'm desperate to know if it's the happy or sad ending,but I will not allow myself to have a sneaky look.....

(But I did clench my eyes up and happened to glance in a bookward direction from behind my hands and,sorry,but it's the 'happy' ending!)

You are a temptress making me do that.

DOH! You can join me in my eternal quest for a sad ending copy
I was just going to ask you something, then I realised you haven't finished yet and it would be a spoiler so I'll hang on

They closed my local library :( Most libraries will happily order a book for you, technically they can get any book that's in print, although there would be a search fee to pay. Things that are "classics" should be in stock in most areas/counties anyway. Some librarians are lazy lax and will fob you off with excuses though, but if you insist, they are supposed to take the request. I hardly ever pay full price for a Kindle book, there are loads of brilliant ones free and dead cheap out there - if you get a Kindle I can send you a list of the ones I've read - loads of apocalypse and zombies and such like
If you're sure the postage wouldn't be horribly expensive I would love those two when you're done with them, thank you - I gave 12 black bags of books away after I got the Kindle, the house was groaning at the seams, so they had to go, and the Kindle is brilliant for saving space)

OOO thank you
They aren't supposed to renew a book with a request on it - they can give someone three days so they have time to bring it back without a fine, but other than that it's supposed to come back. That said, the system doesn't distinguish between copies, so every copy in the county say, will have equal weighting in the request. So if your local library's copy is on loan and a library three miles away is on the shelf, that's the copy that will come.
I wait for the paperback if it's a full price book, the Kindle price drops then. I preorder them and they make a lovely surprise when I switch on and they pop up cos I always forget I've ordered them. That's the one thing I don't like about the Kindle, there's no basket or "save for later" it's either buy or don't buy. And Amazon have no way to watch an author or get a notification when they release a new book, so it can be ages before something pops into my head and I remember to check if there's anything new out.

Has anyone mentioned the Hater books by David Moody? The first one in particular got me incredibly creeped.

He also wrote a zombie series called Autumn which is worth a go - a very low-key, British apocalypse, more quiet desperation and Withnail than shotguns and shopping malls.

Someone recommended On the Beach a few pages back. I'm a massive post-apocalyptic fiction fan but I just couldn't finish it. Too sad.

Stayed up till Silly O'Clock finishing Down to a Sunless Sea. No stalling on that one! I proper enjoyed it and couldn't put it down once the kids were a-bed and I had a bit of peace.

This morning I am faced by the tip my house is because I was too 'busy' reading to clear up....

Now then,do I invest in a little housework tonight or descend into squalor and start 'Then' by Julie Myerson?......

YouBloodyWolf (love the name!) I really enjoyed the David Moody books.
Have you tried the ZA Recht Morningstar series,or JL Bourne and his Day by Day Armageddon? I recommend!

I'm curious to know what you were going to ask Pom but concerned about spoilers for others! I will let you know if I ever happen across a sad ender. Is there any way of a bookshop being able to find out? What a shame about your library - I would be so lost without mine.Even though the hours have been cut I find a way to still go,around work hours,as I feel our support is so vital.

Amazon have several copies of Down to a Sunless Sea "with the pessimistic ending" - have just ordered one, thanks to recommendations on this thread!

www.amazon.co.uk/Down-Sunless-Sea-David-Graham/dp/0330261843/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344161194&sr=1-1

There's no way to tell which copy they are Bore they all come from private sellers so could be either - the only way is to email and ask them to read the last couple of pages and find out And I'm not risking that much money on the off chance. I'll find it one day, either some seller will actually know which is which or it'll turn up in a charity shop or somewhere.

Oh dear - maybe I should have emailed first!

Never mind, will see what I get sent and, if it's the 'sad' one, will be happy to pass it on when I've read it.

crescent the closest I can think it's to is 'On the Beach', as you say,but more 'action-y' IYSWIM.

I'd have liked the sad ending I reckon,but I'm heartless and bloodthirsty when it comes to reading materials!

Sunless Sea stands pretty much alone - it's not really much like anything else. Even in the happy ending one there are a couple of bits that make me cry (one happy, one sad) From my hopeless searches, I think the happy ending copies are much more common than the sad ones, so chances are you would end up with the happy one.
The name SM Stirling is ringing a bell but I can't think what it is of his I've read. I think I thought he was a she too so am off to FF to see

SkinnyVanillaLatte - I read Morningstar and really enjoyed it, kind of liked Day by Day Armageddon but found the US survivalist thing a bit tedious in parts. Presumably you've read World War Z? I love that book, hope the movie doesn't screw it up too badly.

After America by John Birmingham is worth a go - the premise is that a vast 'dome' of energy appears out of nowhere one morning over the USA, killing everyone within and blocking access. The rest of the book is about what happens in the rest of the world and with the surviving Americans. The dome thing is a bit of a McGuffin but he handles it well. He did a series called Axis of Time too, about a US battle fleet from about 2030 or so being zapped back to WW2. Sounds kinda cheesy but it really works - you can tell he's having a major geekout with the history, but it's still very character-driven. He's Australian, which adds an interesting perspective.

I am so excited about the World War Z film, YouBloodyWolf.

Naughtily sneaking off subject for the moment,has anyone seen the film 'Zombie Apocalypse' , and is it any good?

I'm looking forward to seeing the Battle of Yonkers on the big screen

Haven't seen that film, always up for some zombie action though.

On the subject of the OP though, I'd be interested to know how many of the post-apocalyptic fans grew up during the Cold War? I turned 16 in 1989 and the threat of nuclear war was a constant presence in my teens. That's what started me off on it.